Hon Hai Invests US$200 M. to Acquire 10% Stake in U.S.'s Woodman Labs

Taipei, Dec. 21, 2012 (CENS)--The Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., now the world's largest EMS (electronics manufacturing service) provider, is going to invest US$200 million in acquiring a 10.72% stake in U.S.'s Woodman Labs Inc., an activity image capture company, so as to pave the way for its cooperation with Apple Inc. on iTV, according to market observers

Simon Hsing, spokesperson to Hon Hai, confirmed the investment case earlier, and said that this is part of the company's Eyeball strategic plan, which was initiated by the chairman Terry Gou two years ago. Gou believes that all electronic devices should be developed with the best imaging and displaying technologies to catch consumers' eyes.

Woodman Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, but has yet to be publicly listed. The U.S. firm is noted for its Go Pro motion capturing technology coupled with wearable cameras and related accessories, which has been applied in professional purposes, such as sports photography.

Market observers assumed that Hon Hai decides to pour US$200 million into the investee because of the latter's cutting-edge image caption technology. From another viewpoint, some said, the investment is supposed to be Hon Hai's strategic move on cooperation with Apple on the upcoming iTV, though the Taiwanese firm declines to confirm it.

Presently, Hon Hai employs over 1.5 million workers in China, with 800,000 of whom assigned to making Apple's products. This shows not just the EMS provider's unparalleled manufacturing capability and capacity, but also its leading status in Apple's supply chain. If iTV proves a hot-seller in the future, Hon Hai, regarded most likely to supply the device, will secure another growth engine for its business.